A Bundled-Payment Program is Associated with Improved Access to Platelet Rich Plasma for Treatment of Osteoarthritis in Women and Non-White Population Groups.

Purpose: To assess whether the implementation of a novel hospital-based bundled-payment program affects access to platelet rich plasma (PRP) injections for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) for patients representing different population subgroups. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective observational study, which included patients receiving PRP injections between January 2021 and October 2024, at three outpatient orthopaedic clinics of a single hospital-based institution. Patients were excluded if they did not undergo knee, hip, or shoulder (glenohumeral) PRP injections or had insurance coverage for PRP injections. The main outcome measured was the utilization of the bundled-payment program for PRP injections and treatment failure, defined as need for additional treatment within 9 months. Results: Among 220 patients who received PRP injections, women were more likely to use the bundled-payment program than men (37.76% women vs 18.18% men, p = 0.003). Younger patients more frequently utilized the program (53.26 ± 9.55 years vs 62.02 ± 12.75 years, p < 0.001). Non-white patients were significantly more likely to use the bundled-payment program than white patients (51.61% vs 29.14%, p = 0.014). There were no significant differences in program utilization by ethnicity, DCI, or OA severity. There was no significant difference in odds for requiring additional treatments within 9 months between patients of different racial subgroups. Conclusion: The bundled-payment program was associated with increased access to PRP for non-white patients and women. There was no significant difference between racial subgroups in terms of requiring additional treatments within 9 months after initial PRP treatments.